News Archive

Communication across the spectrum - from academic discourse and international relationships, to student recruitment, marketing and development - has been the focus of much activity on campus in the past two weeks.

We were very pleased to host the Australia and New Zealand finals of the Three Minute Thesis program - a concept developed by the University of Queensland which has become an event involving students from 43 universities from Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

The Three Minute Thesis competition is significant in that it encourages our research students to think about the importance of being able to present their work to non-academic audiences to help them more fully understand the importance of high-quality research to the community and society. Last year's win by UWA PhD student Balarka Banerjee brought this year's finals to UWA .

Around the same time, our University - represented by Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Bill Louden and other senior staff - was part of a highly successful visit to South Korea hosted by the State Government where we continued to discuss new opportunities for academic engagement in North Asia.

And back on campus, our University hosted more than 220 marketing, communication and development staff from universities across Australia at a Universities Australia conference held every two years.

As representatives of the higher education sector, we all recognise the power and importance of ideas and communication. And everything we do and everything we say is communicating something about our university.

Every time we interact with students, staff, industry or government or the wider community, we are helping people form impressions about our University. Obviously this sort of communication is happening all the time and highlights the opportunity for powerful, coordinated, collective action.

Our aim must be to work together to harness and direct the power of our University towards fulfilling our true potential - and achieving our ambition of becoming one of the top 50 universities in the world by 2050.

Also very important is the fact that the role of our staff is becoming increasingly important to community understanding of the special place that universities have within our society.

As well as helping position our institution within the marketplace, we have a role in conveying to the broader community - and increasingly to the international community - the message that higher education and knowledge are vital ingredients for a successful future for all - individuals, governments, businesses, communities and societies.

If we, as universities, are to ensure that future generations push the boundaries of research and learning to create a better world, then we have to make sure the community at large recognises the benefits of a strong higher education sector.

Vice-Chancellor Alan Robson

• UWA News 3 October 2011